


if wishes were fishes

by YACCBS



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, an unnecessary amount of hand-holding tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 17:08:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17207474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YACCBS/pseuds/YACCBS
Summary: She wished they could go back to what they had before Beacon, before Adam, before all her mistakes had caught up to her.  She wished she knew what she had said wrong in that barn.  She wished she had her best friend back.  Post V6 E8.  Blake and Yang have the talk they need to.





	if wishes were fishes

**Author's Note:**

> I binged all of RWBY in two days and needed some resolution to Yang and Blake and their issues so I wrote one. First time writing RWBY, and actually first time writing F/F (it's so much harder to keep track of who's doing what oh my god). Not my first time writing fic but it has been a while so shout-out to RWBY for getting me to actually write something for the first time in years. Happy new year everyone!

**if wishes were fishes**

**==**

The hunt for Oscar did not go well.

The team returned to Saphron's house dejected and exhausted.  A quick search revealed Qrow had still not returned from his bender; Ruby hung up in disgust after another unanswered call and stormed off into the garden.  Yang watched her go with an empty expression before heading up the stairs to her room without saying a word.

Weiss looked at Blake and gave a helpless shrug.  "I'll take Ruby and you take Yang?" she suggested, and though Blake wasn't confident that would end well she nodded anyways.

She padded up the stairs and found the door to Yang's room closed.  She reached out to knock but hesitated, ears curling forward in doubt.  Ever since their last conversation Yang had been cold and distant and Blake still wasn't sure why.  She wasn't even sure Yang wanted her here anymore.  The thought sat like an open pit in her stomach, and the temptation to run away again reared its ugly head.

_Hey, I'm not leaving._

She gritted her teeth and knocked, harder than she intended.

"What?"  Yang's voice was flat and harsh.  Blake cautiously opened the door and poked her head in.  Yang was sitting on the bed, leaning on her knees; she looked up at Blake's entrance and then looked away again, her lips pressed into a flat line as she stared at the floor.

"Are you...okay?" Blake asked, hesitantly stepping into the room.  She gripped her left arm with her right hand, feeling awkward in a way that she never would have felt around Yang before that night at Beacon.  Before she left.

"Fine."  Yang spoke in the direction of the floor, still not looking at her.  Blake waited but Yang offered nothing else and the silence grew suffocating.  She wished Yang would yell at her.  She wished Yang would hug her and that she could hug her back.  She wished they could go back to what they had before Beacon, before Adam, before all her mistakes had caught up to her.  She wished she knew what she had said wrong in that barn.

"Okay," she said thickly.  "I'll, uh..."

She wished she had her best friend back.

"I'm sorry," she blurted.  "I don't know what I said wrong before but it clearly hurt you and I'm sorry."  Yang had gone very still but didn't look up; Blake swallowed, and tried very hard not to cry.  "And I'm sorry I left.  I'm sorry I left you, Yang.  I didn't mean – I didn't know what – " she stopped, a thousand reasons and excuses forming on her tongue.  She sighed.  "It doesn't matter.  What I did hurt you and I want you to know if I could take it back I would."

She blinked furiously, her heart thudding painfully in her chest as she waited for some response, some reaction, but Yang said nothing.  Her eyes were covered by her hair – she was a statue, immovable, with no indication she had heard anything Blake had said.

"I'm sorry," Blake whispered again.  She felt herself starting to cry and turned for the door.  "If you want to talk I'll be downstairs.  Or...it doesn't have to be me."  It was an admittance that Yang maybe didn't trust her anymore, and that hurt more than she could say.  "You know Ruby is always there for you.  And Weiss."  She had one hand on the doorknob when Yang spoke.

"Do you think I'm weak?"

Blake turned back.  "What?"  Yang's hands were balled into fists; her whole body was shaking.  Abruptly she shot to her feet, facing Blake as she stood.  There were tears in her eyes.

"Do you think I'm weak?" she asked again, voice breaking.

"No.  Yang, no!"  Blake crossed the room to stand in front of Yang, who ducked her head back down, looking ashamed.  "You're the strongest person I know!  Why would I think that?"

"Back in the barn.  You said you'd protect me if Adam comes back.  Like I'm not capable of protecting myself."  She glanced up at Blake, and the misery on her face before she looked down again made Blake's chest ache.  "Of protecting you."

Blake stood in a stunned silence as everything started clicking into place.  "Yang," she started, but cut off with a small gasp as Yang reached out her good hand and placed it gently on Blake's bared midriff.  Yang's brows were furrowed as she stared at the scar left from where Adam had stabbed her; she traced it lightly with her thumb.  Blake sucked in a shaky breath, not daring to move.

"It's true though, isn't it?  I couldn't stop him.  He would've killed us both if you hadn't carried me out of there."  Yang grimaced.  "He had me beat in one hit.  I was useless."  She pulled her hand away, leaving a terrible cold on Blake's skin, but before she could pull away entirely Blake caught her hand in her own.  She squeezed tight, as if her grip would make Yang whole again.

"Adam could give a veteran Huntsman a run for his money," Blake said earnestly.  "There's no shame in losing a fight like that, Yang.  I lost to him too, remember."

Yang laughed hollowly.  "As if I could forget.  The dreams I have, they – " she stopped, swallowing, eyes darting around the room, looking for a danger that wasn't there.  "They never end well for either of us."  Her hand tightened around Blake's.  "You know the first couple of days after Beacon I was sure you'd come back.  There was no way you would've left us.  Left _me_.  You just needed a few days to come around.  There was no way my partner, my best friend would just up and go when I needed her most."

Blake felt as if she was going to be sick.  She stared down at the floor, curling into herself as if to protect from a physical blow.

"And when I realized you weren't coming back, I wanted...I wanted to be angry.  I _was_ angry, but mostly I was just hurt, and most of all I just wanted you to come back.  I told everyone I didn't care if you did or not but that was a lie.  I missed you, Blake.  More than my own stupid arm I missed _you._ "

"Yang – "

"I understand why you left," Yang continued.  "You were trying to protect us.  But you shouldn't have had to run.  If I had been stronger you never would've left."

"Stop it."

"I don't know if I was angrier with you or with myself – "

_"_ Stop it!"  Blake ripped her hand out of Yang's, and she caught a moment of hurt bewilderment on Yang's face before she threw her arms around her and hugged her as tight as she could.

"Be angry at me," she said fiercely into Yang's shoulder, who tensed but didn't pull away.  "Hate me if it helps.  I was hoping you would, you know, even if it killed me to lose you, so that way Adam would never go after you again.  But don't you _ever_ blame yourself.  I meant it when I said you're the strongest person I know, Yang Xiao Long, and you make everyone around you stronger just by being you, and I meant it when I said I'm not leaving again, and – "

The rest of her tirade was cut off in a squeak as Yang hugged her back hard enough to lift her bodily into the air.

"I could never hate you, Blake Belladona," Yang whispered into her ear.  She set Blake back down gently and drew away.  "And if Adam ever shows his face around here again I'll make him regret it."  She punched one hand into the other and tried to grin, but her bravado was undercut by the tremor in her hand.  Blake took it gently in both of hers as she had in the barn.

"We both will.  We'll fight him together, as partners.  We can protect each other."  She offered Yang a timid smile which Yang returned before quirking an eyebrow.

"Just as partners?" she asked playfully, leaning forward as if they were conspiring some secret plot.

Blake laughed, feeling almost light-headed with relief and a blooming warmth in her chest.  "As friends."

A nervous expression crossed Yang's face and she visibly swallowed, going slightly red.  She glanced down at their ensnared hands and back up at Blake, who was suddenly all too aware of how close Yang is standing.  "Just as – "

"Hey you two, dinner's ready."

They both turned as Weiss peered through the open door, her gaze immediately fixing on how they were holding hands.  She smirked.  "Unless I'm interrupting...?"

"Nope!" Yang and Blake squeaked at the same time, letting go of each other and each taking a step back.  "We were just – just talking," Yang stammered.  Her face had gone very red and Blake suspected hers was much the same.

"Mm," Weiss hummed disbelievingly, eyes narrowed.  "Well come on down then."  She left them in an awkward silence.

"Right then," Yang coughed.  "I'm starving, we better get down there before Nora and Ruby finish it all."  She turned to go, and Blake –

Blake was done running.

"Yang."

Yang stopped, turned.  Blake stepped up next to her.  "I missed you too.  More than I...more than anyone.  I'm glad we talked."  Before her nerve failed her she stood on her tip-toes and placed a fleeting kiss on Yang's cheek, lips just brushing the very corner of her mouth.  "And I hope we can talk more later."

Before Yang could respond, Blake strolled past her and into the hallway, then turned and cocked an eyebrow, one hand on her hip.  "You coming or what?"

Yang, looking dazed, shook herself and smiled wide at her, eyes glittering with amusement and an emotion neither of them were quite ready to put a name to.

"Right behind you."


End file.
